"We put the money up there, and in goes Rod," Schram told Cotsonika. "Rod did then what he does now: He went in to win. He flew into that thing. And let me tell you, he had that bear on his back in about 10 seconds."

Marinelli was not declared the winner, however, and went over to shake the bear's hand. It attacked him again.

2. Hometown respect

Rod Marinelli, aged 64, was born July 13 in Rosemead, Calif. He started his coaching career in 1973 as an assistant at his alma mater, Rosemead High School. The football field there is named after him.

As the Cowboys' defensive line coach in 2013, Marinelli gave nicknames to his players. For instance, ex-Cowboys Jason Hatcher and DeMarcus Ware were Big Daddy and Long Arms, respectively. George Selvie was Bricklayer and Nick Hayden was Golden Cock, because he lines up at what is sometimes called the cock nose of the defensive line.

In 2014, Tyrone Crawford became Cinderella Man.

"You know, Cinderella, she started off mopping floors," Crawford said, "and then she got her opportunity to become a beautiful princess."

4. What's up with the rock?

During his tenure as head coach of the Detroit Lions, Marinelli had a large rock in the middle of the locker room, symbolizing his "Pound the Rock" slogan. The Lions didn't have much success with that mentality, finishing 10-38 during his three seasons, which included a 0-16 season in 2008.

5. Strong belief

Marinelli began his coaching career as an assistant with Tampa Bay. Before his time there, the Buccaneers were the only NFL team to go winless (0-14) in a season. That changed in Marinelli's final season as the Detroit Lions' head coach. The Lions went 0-16 in 2008. But Marinelli told the Dayton (Ohio) News that he learned much in that winless season.

"If you really believe in how you do your business and you fail, you become more glued to it than ever before," Marinelli said. "Failure never made me doubt. I knew it was the right thing. That's me. Believe in what we do."

6. A keeper

Once teams get their hands on Marinelli, they don't want to let him go. Dallas did not give Tampa Bay permission to interview Marinelli when Lovie Smith took the head coaching job there.

Smith had a similar experience as Chicago Bears head coach when he wanted to bring in Marinelli as defensive coordinator in 2004. It wasn't until Marinelli was fired as the Lions' head coach following the 2008 season that Smith was able to hire Marinelli as assistant head coach/defensive line in 2009.

Loyalty is very important to Marinelli. Though the Bears wanted to retain him after Smith was fired, Marinelli left and joined Dallas' staff.

7. Next question

/Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer

Dallas defensive coach Rod Marinelli is pictured during the Washington Redskins vs. the Dallas Cowboys NFL football game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Sunday, October 13, 2013. (Louis DeLuca/Dallas Morning News)

Marinelli and his wife, Barbara, have two daughters, Chris and Gina. Chris is married to Joe Barry, currently an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Rams but a former defensive coordinator under Marinelli when he was the Lions' head coach. During Detroit's 0-16 season, Detroit News reporter Rob Parker asked Marinelli if he wished his daughter married a better defensive coordinator after a 42-7 loss to New Orleans. Marinelli didn't answer the question. The next day, Parker wrote that the comment was "an attempt at humor" and not a malicious attack. Parker later resigned from the paper.

8. Vietnam vet

Marinelli attended college at California Lutheran. He also served a one-year stint in Vietnam. He played on Cal Lutheran's 1971 NAIA national championship team while being a team captain and All-American offensive tackle. According to CLU records, Marinelli was described as being "wounded in Vietnam, racked with malaria and considered too small to play college football."

9. Learning from Landry

When Marinelli was an offensive tackle at California Lutheran in the early 1970s, he got an up-close look at Tom Landry's Cowboys. At the time, Dallas held its training camp at the small private school, which is located about 20 miles down the road from Oxnard, in Thousand Oaks.

"When we were seniors at college, the captains would always have the chance to be the gofers with them, do odd jobs, hang out, whatever we did," Marinelli recalled. "My first experience with professional football was about class, and that's always stayed with me; how they worked and how they did business."

10. Coaching tree

Marinelli, like former Bears head coach and current Tampa Bay coach Lovie Smith and ex-Cowboys colleague Monte Kiffin, was part of Tony Dungy's staff when Dungy was the head coach for the Bucs. Marinelli and Kiffin worked together for 10 years in Tampa Bay and later with the Cowboys. Dungy's Tampa Bay staff also included Herm Edwards.